Author: James Gralian

  • Thin Air – Coaches Comma

    A few thoughts from around the league. – There’s a lot of hand wringing over the Vancouver Canucks and John Tortorella. The question is whether or not he is the right coach for the Canucks considering their current slide and doubtfulness of making the playoffs. Frankly, Tortorella is one of many problems the team has,…

  • Imagine This Happened

    After a game of rec hockey, I decided I needed to sit down with the new Avalanche video, #ImagineAvs, and see what I thought.  Responses online are mixed, and about as partisan as congress these days.  If you haven’t seen it, here it is. My thoughts?  I thought it sucked.  But we need to go…

  • Thin Air: MacKinAgain

    Some hockey thoughts from the Southwest of America: – I haven’t watched an ounce of Olympic hockey.  Let’s get this out of the way now: I’ve been busy.  No, really.  I probably could have, but I truly have another thing that is keeping me full time busy, and hockey is just going to have to…

  • Mid-Season Minor League Team Folds: Could It Happen To Yours?

    The business of minor league sports is always a difficult one.  It’s completely gate-driven, and if the butts in the seats aren’t there, you won’t make money.  A good arena lease is pretty instrumental to the success of a team, but if you don’t have the fans at the arena, you won’t be able to…

  • The Attendance Issue Again

    Monday was the annual rolling out of the “attendance woes” column by the Denver Post.  Unlike most years, it was given this time to the more thoughtful Terry Frei, rather than the standard pallbearers.  So there was less “bad fan” jabs and more “I’m kind of surprised” this year. It’s a nice change. I can’t…